Your guide to all things prospect, courtesy of Jonathan Mayo

Who's hot, who's not so much

We’re into the second half of the AFL season (keep an eye out for my midseason All-Stars on the AFL site soon). There’s been plenty of time for cold starters to right themselves and the red-hot starters to cool off considerably. Here’s a couple of nominees for the "hot" and "not so much" list.

HOT

Nick Markakis: Heading into Thursday’s action, he was riding an eight-game hitting streak during which he was hitting .577 (he picked up a base hit to extend his streak to nine on Thursday).

Brad Snyder: Even though his five-game hitting streak was snapped on Wednesday, he still has hit .425 since Oct. 11 when he was hitting .167. Now he’s up to .345. Since the 11th, Snyder also has 11 runs scored with five of his seven extra-base hits coming in that 11-game span.

Eric Patterson: The Cubs’ second base prospect has been carrying a hot stick over the last five games, going 9-for-19 (.474) in that span.

Denard Span: The Twins’ outfielder has gone 11-for-27 (.407) over his past seven games to raise his average more than 80 points.

Howie Kendrick: Hot in perpetuity, Kendrick is still over .400 for the season. He’s only played in three games in which he didn’t get a base hit, and one of those was a pinch-hitting deal. He’s had 12 multi-hit games.

NOT SO MUCH

Dan Uggla: Uggla started out like a house on fire, homering in his first three games. In his last nine, however, he’s gone 5-for-33 (.152).

Stephen Drew: Despite homering on Wednesday, his bat has cooled considerably. Over his last nine games, he’s hit .143 (4-for-28).

Brandon Wood: His overall power numbers still look impressive, but keep in mind he had eight homers in his first six games. His last 12? Not as impressive: 9-for-46 (.196).

Garrett Jones: In his past seven games, Jones has hit .192 (5-for-26), cooling off considerably from his .346 average before the slide.

CORRECTION: I evidently had a World Series-sized brain cramp last night. While discussing the AFL alums playing in the Fall Classic, I left one guy out. It seems Jermaine Dye sharpened his tools in Arizona back in 1995. Guy only won the WS MVP, so I don’t feel too bad.

And now, some league-wide stats:

All-time batting average record: .292 (2004)2005 average: .301

All-time worst ERA: 5.32 (2004)2005 ERA: 5.68

All-time homers: 243 (1997)2005 homers: 130 (on pace for 219)

Note on homers: The record for homers per game is 1.82, set in 2001. This year, balls are going out at the rate of 2.28 per game.

2 Comments

Another good inclusion the back from injury list. Nickeas missed all of June and half of July with a broken hand. The Rangers kind of pushed him, sending him to Double-A in his first season after being drafted in 2004, but his defense is that good. He’s gone 11-for-28 in the AFL. No one expects him to hit like that, but if he can hit a little, he’s got a fture.

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